Assassination Rogue PvE DPS Build
Odealo's Pocket Guide
Updated for Patch 8.2.0
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Spec Overview
Assassination rogues focus on Poisoning and Bleeding their victims to death. They specialize in dealing high amounts of sustained damage from a melee range and are known for their unmatched defensive abilities which let them survive even the most deadly encounters.
 Pros |
 Cons |
| Good sustained Cleave Damage |
Single Target DPS is heavily cooldown oriented |
| Good sustained Single Target Damage |
Mediocre burst AoE damage |
| Unmatched Defensive Cooldowns |
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| Quite easy to play |
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Statistics Priority
- Agility - This is Assassination Rogue's Primary Stat. It increases Attack Power which in turn determines Damage done by Rogue's Abilities.
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- Haste - Increases Energy Regeneration and Attack Speed.
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- Critical Strike - Gives your Attacks a chance to do increased (Critical) Damage. It also synergizes well with
 Seal Fate.
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- Mastery -
 Mastery: Potent Assassin increases damage done by Rogue's Bleeds and Poisons.
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- Versatility - Reduces Damage Taken and Increases Damage Done.
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The Best Talent Choices
Level 15: Recommended choice - Elaborate Planning |
| Elaborate Planning - Your Damage Done is increased by 10% for 4 seconds after using a Finishing Move. This gives you a good Sustained Damage boost and is really useful in AoE heavy encounters, as it benefits heavily from increased frequency of finishing moves. |
 Master Poisoner boosts your Weapon Poisons Damage by 30% and their non-damaging effects by 20%; It does not affect
 Envenom or  Poison Bomb. This benefits greatly from Rogue's Mastery: Potent Assassin but at the moment is noticeably weaker than the Elaborate Planning.  Blindside is an active ability designed for finishing off enemies, as it can be used only on Targets below 35% health, it costs 30 Energy;  Mutilate has 25% chance of making Blindside Free and usable on any Target. It is not as good as other options, and it uses Energy needed for your other abilities. |
Level 30: Recommended choice - Subterfuge |
Subterfuge - Abilities that require  Stealth may now be used for 3 seconds after breaking Stealth. This Talent gives you the most flexibility and it synergizes well with  Garrote and a  Vanish. |
 Nightstalker increases your movement speed by 20% and Damage from Abilities by 50% while Stealth is active. It will help you relocate out of combat but is worse than Subterfuge when it comes to Damage. With  Master Assassin you have 50% increased Critical Strike chance while in Stealth and for 3s after breaking it; this gives you some AoE and Burst Damage potential when combined with Vanish. |
Level 45: Recommended choice - Vigor |
| Vigor - Increases your Energy Regeneration rate by 10% and your maximum Energy by 50. This is a very flexible talent which boosts Damage Done by all your Energy consuming abilities (because you can use them more often). |
 Deeper Stratagem increases Combo Points cap to 6 and makes your Finishing Moves consume up to 6 Combo Points and do 5% increased Damage. This is very useful in AoE heavy encounters, as it makes Combo Point management way easier by reducing the amount of wasted CP.  Marked for Death applies 5 Combo Points to your Target instantly; it has 60s cooldown that resets when Marked Target dies. It is best suited for leveling and situations when adds are dropping like flies. |
Level 60: Recommended choice - Cheat Death |
| Cheat Death - Damage that would have killed you reduces your HP to 7% instead, all damage taken for 3 seconds afterward is reduced by 85%; this effect can trigger once every 6 minutes. This ability is the REAL lifesaver and should be chosen as a default. |
 Leaching Poison gives your  Deadly Poison and  Wound Poison a 10% life drain. This Talent is best suited for Solo content.  Elusiveness extends Damage Reduction effect of  Feint to non-area-of-effect-attacks (it now grants 30% damage reduction from all sources other than AoE) which is very useful in certain encounters, but much more situational than Cheat Death. |
Level 75: Recommended choice - Prey on the Weak |
Prey on the Weak - Enemies under effects of your  Cheap Shot,  Dismantle or  Kidney Shot take 10% increased Damage from all sources for 6 seconds. This talent will help your Raid take down a priority Target more quickly which, and should be chosen as default because of that. |
 Internal Bleeding adds a Bleed Effect to your Kidney Shot which provides a marginal damage output improvement while in a Raid group and is best suited for Solo play.  Iron Wire extends the duration of your Garrote's silence effect and causes silenced Targets to deal 15% less damage for 8 seconds. This Talent has rather limited uses outside PvP. |
Level 90: Recommended choice - Toxic Blade |
| Toxic Blade - Attack that deals Nature Damage to your Target and increases your Nature (poison) damage done to the Target by 30% for 9 seconds; generates 1 Combo Point and costs 20 Energy. This provides a high Sustained Damage improvement as it works with all Nature-damage based Rogue spells and abilities. |
 Venom Rush makes your Mutilate refound 5 Energy when used against a poisoned Target. This Talent is effective only in a Single-Target scenario, as you have to use Mutilate to gain value from it.  Exsanguinate causes all your Bleed effects applied to a Target to bleed out 100% faster when activated. This gives a bit more Burst Damage boost than Toxic Blade but has less synergy with other rogue Abilities. |
Level 100: Recommended choice - Poison Bomb |
Poison Bomb - Envenom and  Rupture now have a 4%/Combo Point chance to smash a Vial of Poison under the Target's feet, creating a pool of Acid that deals Nature Damage to all enemies within it over 2 seconds. This is the best choice for Single Target Damage that also increases AoE Damage done against stacked Targets. |
 Hidden Blades is a stackable buff to your  Fan of Knives which increases its damage by 20%; stacks up to 20 times, one stack is gained every 2 seconds. This works well in Burst-AoE scenarios but lacks Sustained AoE potential.  Crimson Tempest is an AoE Finishing Move with a 10yd Range, that deals instant Damage to all enemies in range and causes them to bleed for extra damage; it lasts longer per Combo Point spent. It is a good choice for Sustained Area of Effect Damage. |
The Basic Rotation
Assassination Rogue's rotation revolves around building up Combo Points with Mutilate and spending them on Finishers while also maintaining Bleed effects applied to the Target.
Always use Deadly Poison as your Lethal Poison
You should be using the following Priority List when fighting against a Single Target:
- Rupture (4-5 CP) should be maintained at all times
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- Vendetta on Cooldown
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- Vanish on Cooldown to benefit from Subterfuge's effect on Garrote (try to apply Garrote to as many targets as possible when fighting multiple enemies)
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- Garrote should be maintained at all times
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- Toxic Blade on Cooldown
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- Envenom (4-5 CP)
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- Mutilate for Combo Point generation
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| You should be using the following Priority List when fighting against Multiple Targets: |
- Rupture should be maintained on up to 3 Targets
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- Vendetta on Cooldown
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- Vanish on Cooldown to apply Garrote empowered by
Subterfuge to as many targets as possible
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- Envenom (4-5 CP)
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- Poisoned Knife if Sharpened Blades has reached 30 stacks
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- Fan of Knives for Combo Point Generation
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Tips and Tricks for Improving your Gameplay
- You should always try to use your Finishing Moves with 4 or 5 Combo Points in order to maximize efficiency.
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- Do not ever overcap your Combo Points or Energy, but don't just spam Energy requiring abilities, try to maintain a stable Energy level (about 80-90% capacity would be the best) so it is always available when Envenom's passive is up.
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- Try to maximize your Bleeds up time, your goal is always 100%. This may require you to reapply them before changing Targets or when certain Raid mechanic forces you to move away from your Main Target.
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- Burn your cooldowns when available if there is no Burst phase coming up.
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- Do not use
 Crippling Poison when it is not needed. Unwanted AoE slow created with your Fan of Knives can cause a multitude of problems.
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END NOTE
This is an early version of our guide, we plan to upgrade upon it, and add further sections. So please leave your suggestions in the comments section below. We would also like to state that this is meant as a pocket guide and therefore we will not go into too much detail (please visit more specialized sites for a much more in-depth build/stat/gear/rotation analyses).
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